Vanessa earns a base salary of $\$400.00$ every week with an additional $5\%$ commission on everything she sells. Vanessa sold $\$1650.00$ worth of items last week. What was Vanessa's total pay last week? $\$\ $
Solution: First, find the amount of commission made by using the following formula: commission rate $\times$ total sales $=$ amount of commission made Since the commission rate is a percentage, we have to convert it into a decimal first. Percent means "out of one hundred," so $5\%$ is equivalent to $\dfrac{5}{100}$ which is also equal to $5 \div 100$. $5 \div 100 = 0.05$ Now you have all the information you need to find the amount of commission made: $0.05$ $\times$ $\$1650.00$ $=$ $\$82.50$ We can find the total salary for Vanessa by adding the amount of commission made to her base salary. amount of commission made $+$ base salary $=$ total salary $\$82.50$ $+$ $\$400.00$ $=$ $\$482.50$ The total salary Vanessa made last week was $\$482.50$.